David Hussey's international career appears over, but Usman Khawaja remains in the mix to feature in this year's Ashes series despite missing out on a Cricket Australia contract.

Hussey has played 69 one-dayers and 39 Twenty20s for Australia, and held out a slight hope of making the Test squad for the looming back-to-back Ashes series.

But with the 35-year-old unlikely to make the Test squad, and Australia focusing on youth ahead of the 2015 one-day World Cup, Hussey was dropped from the 20-man CA contract list announced on Thursday.

Khawaja, Steve Smith, Jackson Bird and all-rounder Moises Henriques also failed to make the list, but national selector John Inverarity said they all remained under consideration for the Ashes.

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With Australia's top-order looking shaky, Khawaja appears the most likely out of the quartet to come under consideration.

But if all-rounder Shane Watson breaks down with injury again, then Henriques and Smith will rocket back into the selection mix.

Australia's depth in the pace bowling department means Bird could struggle to force his way in.

The Test team's inconsistent batting efforts remain a major concern for Inverarity, and he described the recent 4-0 series whitewash in India as poor.

Although skipper Michael Clarke has been in sparkling touch over the past two years, the likes of David Warner, Ed Cowan, Watson, Phil Hughes, Matthew Wade and Khawaja have been hit-and-miss.

"We need to get greater stability and certainty in our top six in the batting," Inverarity said.

"We do not have the batting depth in Australian cricket now that we enjoyed seven or eight or 15 years ago.

"That's something cricket in Australia really needs to address and we need to get more batsmen making more runs prolifically."

Inverarity said other outsiders who remain in the mix for the Ashes included Adam Voges, Alex Doolan, Shaun Marsh and Chris Rogers.

Left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc was one of the biggest winners of the new contract list following the retirements of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey, with the 23-year-old rocketing up the money pecking order.

The 19-year-old, who claimed seven wickets in his sole Test appearance in 2011, is still on the comeback trail from a serious back injury, and has been working with former Test great Dennis Lillee to tweak his bowling action.

"His action had some twists and turns in it, and he's remodelling that," Inverarity said.

"So that will mean that he's much less likely to break down in the future.

"We're certainly not going to rush him. He is a question mark in terms of when we bring him back. It will certainly be a cautious approach."